What is the cause for people not loving their jobs? Is it the environment or are we the ones to blame?

in #life8 years ago (edited)

Let's talk about the lack of enthusiasm in the workforce, about stagnation and how we can be more productive. I want to hear your opinion!



During college, when I was 20 years old, I worked at a call center for a telecommunications company. I met  smart people, educated people, grownups, who graduated from college and yet their career stagnated at a call center job, that you can do without having some studies, where in truth you can learn something , but up to a point. The fact is that all of them told me that they weren’t happy with their job. Once you reach domain expertise and you apply techniques used also in daily life, you realize that you begin to stagnate, that you indulge in a situation that is not exactly as expected.

For example, S. was a smart woman, at 30 years old, who finished a college education and a Masters in Economics. I asked her what she thought about the environment, and the activity; her response was that she had no time to feel anything, she simply came to work and did her job. And when I asked her how it felt after a day's work, if she had the satisfaction that she had met the requirements, the answer was “tired".


 

Most do not have enough courage to aspire to more, others have tried and failed at least once and others do not want more. The latter are the happiest, that is what they want, and so I do not judge them in any way. In fact they might gain more than me, they can gain complacency. In contrast, the others, unless they make a change now, later they will regret it, and time will rust their untrained or undiscovered skills, their spirit will become flabby and self-esteem will be reduced to disdain. Moreover, the fact that they are dissatisfied with their current job makes the work itself to be held without interest, hence the Romanian popular phrase: “Time passes, the salary goes forward”.


 

I believe that every man should work in a field appropriate for him/her, where he/she must show interest in what they’re doing, aspire to more, overcome objectives and achieve performance. After I experienced firsthand what it's like to take your life in your own hands and go every day to the place where you sell your skills, I realized that the most important factor is to love what you do and to always want to learn more. When you love what you do, you become tired harder and you are more productive. At least that's what happened to me: I became a workaholic.



That wasn't the only job that I had. I worked as a PR Assistant at a web design agency, then as an Account Manager for the sole distributor of cosmetics from Romania. Then I decided to work for myself. For a long time I thought about the possibility of becoming a freelancer , but I made the final decision after I realized  that while working for me , I could learn more and , at the same time , earn more money . I was into graphic design so I gave it a try.


 

At first it was a little harder, now it’s already normal, but with the passing of time, I became dependent on being a freelancer. I recommend it only to those who are willing to sacrifice time and many pleasures. At first the money will be few if none, and for those who search for stability in life, a job, indeed, may be much safer.

 


What is the cause for people not loving their jobs? We can find numerous superficial whys, but which is the hidden one? Is it the environment to blame? I consider that we are the ones to blame, we are guilty in front of ourselves. 

If we do not like a job, we go only for wages, we are not proud of what we do and we drop off the hooks, all this without any satisfaction, apart from the financial one, then we must change the way that we are.  Indeed, it is easier for young people that are just getting started. But there are many people, past the age of youth, that by making such a change, they found success.


 


I'm not saying to juggle, to change jobs frequently, but say it is necessary for us to find that kind of work that we are passionate about, in which we can excel and give our best, having the satisfaction of the final result. It's actually a fight that one should start with himself, a battle that many of us are afraid to start because of a failure. In such a case, do not give up, you will surely find your way.

 

Thus, even if we have no power to change a whole world, by self-example and by trusting that others will change themselves, we can , at least , improve our conception of us, in close relationship with self-esteem .


What's your opinion about this subject? Do you like your present job? Brings you satisfaction?



Don't forget to follow for more.

Sort:  

Ahh yes the question of meaning and purpose.

I've worked at a small company, large company and lastly for myself. The small company experience allowed me to see how a business operated. To see the interactions of each department. After this I started working for a very large company. The sea of office cubicles even had street names so that we could locate a fellow employee. People knew their job but often didn't know how they contributed to the overall flow within the company. One of the nice parts back then was that the moment 5pm came - work stopped. I know that is much less so these days. It did allow more time to attend to family matters.

I've spent the rest of my working career as a self employed person. Having many clients let me pick and choose who I work for and what that work entails. Occasionally I have quoted a ridiculous price to avoid a project only to get it anyway - so I was at least well compensated for the work I liked less.

Back to meaning and purpose. Purpose to me is what I do. While meaning is closely tied to the satisfaction that comes from what I do.

With the wisdom of passing time I make choices that maximize my satisfaction and do less.

As always, @masterinvestor, your comments are really inspiring. I hope that in the future I'll talk about my work experience just like you and become a succesful self employed.
Your thoughts are really wise.

Well written. By the way I noticed your last SteemShift post. Good thinking, you're like me, but yes ironically shapeshift, who are awesome, just started accepting Steem.

I definitely agree that you have to go after your passion. Once I did that, I decided nobody was going to ruin it for me and became formidable.

Before that, I was always looking for balance. Maybe I loved the work but hated the mean incompetent manager, felt I was not particularly well suited to the work but loved my boss, loved the work but was asked to go against my conscience by reverse engineering products so they could be manufactured more cheaply.

There was always a "but" until I decided to go all-or-nothing after my passion. Now there's just occasional temporary friction. :)

@pulpably, I'm really glad for you! It's wonderful that you had the courage to do it and that it worked out well. :)

I think you brought up a lot of good points. Personally, I'm a 5th-year PhD student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. I wouldn't say that I LOVE my research. A lot of what I do would be considered old-fashioned, classical math problems, which sometimes feel like research just for the sake of research. I'm getting to the point where I need to choose between Academics and Industry for my career path (or straight-up entrepreneurship, but that might be a little too risky for me... :p ). Anyway, I like the idea of doing something that you really love, but I also recognize that the majority of people who have ever lived were forced to do whatever jobs they could find, just to earn a wage. I think I will be happy with a job that I'm generally positive about (not necessarily in love with), which has a decent salary and good hours to let me really enjoy the rest of my time, and possibly pursue some entrepreneurial projects on the side ;)

So you are also at that point of your life, where you have to decide which path is the best one. I was once inspired by a speaker who made a video about how the youth should take risks now, until they reach maturity. And how you have nothing to loose during these years, while you can also gain knowledge. My article was based on a subjective point of view, that's why I consider the way you think to be really healthy. As long as you're productive in your work and you are pleased about it, that should be enough.

I really, totally agree with this. But I also think that when you're in a job then your employer has the responsibility for your wellbeing and motivation to some extent. I've worked in jobs before where my seniors would lay heavy on me until my work was done and not care anything as to how I was feeling inside.

My last job my manager met with me every week to see how things were going - I had to work a lot on my own, and everytime we met she asked how I was feeling, how my family was and if I was still coping - and she'd always make the necessary adjustments to ensure that I was happy. Because I was a manager too I learned a lot from her and put her practises onto my staff - and everyone stayed with me, and were happy, and fulfilled, and if they moved on it was to something better.

Work is an investment in staff as well as us giving our all :)

The people that we meet can become great models for us and change our perspective. It's really nice to hear that you are a good boss. There are few who can say that. Indeed, having employers who understand you, can improve a lot one's thinking about the job.

Yup. It's why I work for myself now - working for my last employer seriously tainted the experience of working for anyone else. Hah :)

So I work for other people but under my own terms - if that's understandable :)

My current job withstanding, I'd say the reason is because people don't like being told they HAVE to do something...again and again...over and over...until....when? Retirement? Or until they get sick of doing it? Until they die, perhaps?

The solution? In my opinion, find a way to be your own boss. Find something you love doing and WANT to do until retirement and make a business out of it somehow. This of course relies a lot on someone's skillset, because of course - if you don't have a skill, there's no business to start. In which case, it's a matter of the individual to look around and find something that makes them happy.

And as of my writing this, I see that word "purpose" listed 11 times here in the comments, including this one, so it's obviously a common theme here.

There is a game going on, and it's based completely off a point system.
When you find something you enjoy doing, something that gives you happiness, try to find a way to apply it to the game. If it works and you can make a living doing it - you just found your purpose.

I have quite a few friends who declined the idea of being employees. In fact, they are the ones who inspired me to let go and become a self employed. Also, my clients are people who had the courage to do something on their own and who found success.
But self-employment isn't for everyone, so, instead, regardless of our status, I think we must find the activity which won't feel like a waste of life. You can work in a corporation and still be happy and passionate about it.

You guys helped me have a revelation. I feel like I made a great discovery: "purpose is the answer". I'm really happy, sincerely. :D

I believe that at some point in our lives there could be a situation that we work just for the sake of salary without liking our job. But to my mind such a situation should be highly temporarily and a person should do everything possible to move forward and change things for the better. If we do not like what we do we become unhappy and even maybe miserable with our self-esteem going lower and lower every day. However, it takes great courage to take action and try to change things. Lots of people choose to stay on the "safe side" and stay where they are used to be. That's sad. This is why especial thanks for your article as hopefully it's help more people to aspire for more.

In addition, as I loved this article, I'm including it in my TOP5 Lucky Find Psychology articles for today. :)

@aleksandraz, thank you for your comment. You pretty much read my mind. :) I'm really glad you liked my article and I really hope it helps .

I think on some level there is a loss of empowerment and hope, with many having the long term goal of buying the rest of their life back (retirement.)

We work for companies that many couldn't imagine starting themselves. Whether seeing something like starting a company or working for themselves as an overly daunting task to achieve and/or not trusting their own abilities.

While I understand wanting to have or provide stability for others for practical reasons, burnout happens. Over a long period of time, for many, it just becomes the routine to 'drudge' through.

I had a knowledge engineer job I loved for about 5 years out of college, but I'll freely admit I didn't want to be there every day. There were days and times my mind and drive was somewhere else. Unfortunately with external deadlines, pressures and requirements that are a part of any job, even working for ourselves, we always have some compromises.

Personally I love the concept of Flow which is best explained as a kid at play, musician in the moment playing music, or any other fully immersive activity. I see this as the peak productivity anyone can achieve. The downside is that it's not always directed.

Anyway, short answer to you're question: I feel that many people submit to the daily grind and don't feel empowered enough to do otherwise. Risk is scary to most.

Too bad that having these thoughts like "I have to resist until I'll get to retirement" will make us accept harder and harder the fact that we must go to work every morning. Sometimes, I think that we're just enmeshed by society. At least here, in my country, you sometimes have the feeling that your purpose for living is being a worker.
Didn't know about the concept of "flow" and I realize now that I'm also immersed in my work, which is not always a good thing because I often forget to eat or sleep. My boyfriend always complains that when I work I don't care about anything else.

I believe it comes down to having a purpose. You either need to have a job that you think has a real purpose... or you need a job that allows you to follow what your real purpose is. I'm a teacher and feel my job has purpose. My wife works in the corporate world, but she has a job that allows her to be a good mom. She doesn't dread going to work because she knows its allowing her to do things with and for her kids. I think it would be sad to have a job you feel has no purpose AND takes away from your true purpose.

I didn't think about this mode of analysis. But not everybody have purposes, some just work because up to some point, society compels them to. In this case, I think the solution is to find that job right for them. Neither I don't know which is my purpose. For now, I only want to become good in a domain and to walk on a path that doesn't impose limits.

I've just realized that this is a purpose itself. Yes, I think "having purposes" it's the answer!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.20
TRX 0.14
JST 0.029
BTC 64876.15
ETH 3157.35
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.55